Now in his fifth decade at North Side, Athletic Director Dale Doerffler has seen and experienced it all with the Redskins football program.

Doerffler arrived in the fall of 1979 and was named head coach in 1980.
For 16 years he patrolled the North Side sidelines and built a program that was widely regarded as one of the toughest in northern Indiana.

He won 110 games while leading the Redskins to their only postseason titles in the class football era, capturing sectional championships in 1984, 1988 and 1990 and a regional crown in 1984.

Before this season's SAC championship, all four of the league titles had been won with Doerffler as coach, winning the city in 1984, 1987, 1988 and 1991.

Doerffler is reserved when speaking about his accolades and what he did with the team, despite current coach Ryan Hall referring to him as "a legend of the program."

"The fact that we did have some success attributed to the players we had at that time and the assistant coaches," Doerffler said.
"It was a lot of fun winning games and winning championships."

Doerffler decided to further his career by becoming athletic director at North Side, forcing him to resign coaching.

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"Mike came in and he did a good job, but he wasn't used to an urban city school," Doerffler said.

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It surely had been a long fall from when Doerffler was in command, but he thought more about the individual kids than the program in general.

"It was a difficult situation, the program wasn't in great shape in that point in time," Doerffler said.
"It was hard to see the program suffer, the kids not winning."

Entering the 2004 season, Doerffler faced some pressure from himself to make the right hire.
Perhaps not for wins and losses, but for the players that were sticking it out and a roster that was growing thinner and thinner each season.

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Immediately, Doerffler noticed a change in attitude and on-field performance.
North Side won six games in 2004, the most in 12 years.

Perhaps Kolkman's greatest attribute was his ability to relate to his players, an important aspect of coaching particularly in the inner city.
Players must like a coach but also have enough respect to listen and not go rogue when disciplined.

"A good coach and a good teacher has to have that ability to communicate with the kids and have the respect of the kids," Doerffler said.

"A 'gentle giant' would be a great way to describe him," North Side Athletic Director Dale Doerffler said.
"His personality was just very warm."

Those who knew Lewis find it hard to believe that they won't have another chance to feel the warmth of his engulfing handshake, see the familiar smile that he brought into a room or hear his contagious laughter.